My Version of Dragons: Defenders of Berk
by Month4
Summary: Just thinking about my version of Dragons: Defenders of Berk and had to write it down. Rated T for possible blood mostly and the fact that I don't want a possibly awesome story to get kicked off the web.
1. Chapter 1

"Bad thing happens, even to Vikings. And sometimes it will change you into somebody else." – Hiccup.

It is now the day after Bork Week. On the last day of this Viking holiday they held a service in memory of Mildew, who they believe dead when he 'sacrificed' himself for Hiccup. The speech said at the service said "even though Mildew was sour at everything. And when it came to dragons and the friendship we now have with them his mood was the worst. But in the end he died a hero." Little do they know, there is so much bad things that's going to come.

Hiccup is now sitting at a table in Berk Dragon Academy with his dragon partner, Toothless, beside him. Along with both his notebook with his notes in it and Bork's notes and the Book of Dragons open on it and writing in a blank book. Gobber left some time ago after helping them with a new project, fighting alongside their dragon partners as if they were one. Astrid is standing of to one side of working with Stormfly on some more strategies on the subject they were working on that day. Looking at Hiccup once in a while and trying to figure out what he's doing. Tuffnut and his twin sister Ruffnut walks up to him.

"Excuse me," says Tuffnut to get Hiccup's attention. "Why are we training in the morning. And why so hard this time."

"Because Alvin is stepping up his plans," answers Hiccup. "He's not just using lives as hostages. Last time he used one of our own people to make plans to get to me (Toothless hums and nods in agreement). So I decided to get training done as early as possible then train more dragons the rest of the day."

"And I bet you don't have an idea on where to start," says Snotlout in his mocking way.

"Actually, I do," responds Hiccup, which got Fishlegs and Astrid listening. "I could start with the ones I saw in Alvin's dragon pit. After that, it depends on what his next plans are."

"What kinds of dragons does he have?" asks Fishlegs.

"A Whispering Death, a Scauldron and a Changewing," answers Hiccup. Everyone stares at him in shock.

"But those are three very dangerous dragons!" exclaims Astrid. "You could die if you go anywhere near them!"

"I know, I know," insists Hiccup, putting the books in a satchel. "But I have to improve myself. I'm not going to let Mildew's sacrifice be in vain." That comment snaps the others out of their shock. Everyone's expressions turn into those of understanding, even Snotlout's for a second.

"Then the rest of us are going too," says Fishlegs. "With all of us working together we will at least we'll have a better chance of coming home alive."

"Sorry Fishlegs," says Hiccup, slinging the satchel with all the books that was on the table. "But when I go off to train a dragon, I'm not coming home until I'm done." Fishlegs is about to frantically protest to either train a dragon or die trying when Ruffnut raises her hand.

"One question," says Ruffnut. "What were you writing earlier?"

"I'm calling it the Book of Dragon Training," answers Hiccup. A little girl from the village comes running in.

"Guys, there's a huge strange boat coming into view from southwest," she says (AN: she's talking about a ship). "It doesn't have the sails of either one of ours our an Outcast."

"Let's go check it out Bud," Hiccup says to Toothless as he climbs on to his back. The dragon takes off and, with a little help from Hiccup, heads towards where the little girl told them the huge boat is coming from. The huge boat is just coming into port when Hiccup and Toothless arrives. As they fly around the huge boat they take note on the sheer size of it. There's no one on deck, but there are windows along the sides of it. Once it's at the docks something hanging from a long chain drops into the sea (A/N: the anchor). A moment later a weight tied to rope drops onto the dock from both sides of the huge boat. Double that amount of time and a piece drops from the boat and one end hits the dock, forming a gangplank. Revealing another wall behind it with a door in it in the hole left by the piece that dropped. It isn't long before a woman comes out through the door, walks to each of the weights on the dock, takes the rope from the weights and ties the ropes to the docks. By this time Hiccup and Toothless has landed. They had taken in as much of the huge boat as possible. They also took note in a window in half of the deck of the boat.

The woman is thin with light skin and long dark brown hair and eyes. She is wearing a white dress. She is wearing a ring with a silver band and a red gem on the ring finger of her left hand.

"Who are you, and what is that?" says Hiccup as he indicates the boat at the last part. The other kids of Hiccup's group arrives at this point and lands on the dock.

"My name is Gretel," answers the woman. "Me and my twin daughters call this our house-boat. We travel the waters of the world in it. We are the Traders of Knowledge."

"Excuse me, what's a Trader of Knowledge?" asks Tuffnut.

"Well, you do know Trader Johann," exclaims Gretel. "A Trader of Knowledge is like what he does, but with knowledge."

"You know Trader Johann," exclaims Fishlegs.

"Of course I do," says Gretel. "He and I are siblings." This made everyone else jump in surprise. At this point Stoick lands Thornado on the dock followed by the villagers on foot.

"Hiccup, who's this?" says Stoick.

"Dad, this is Trader Johann's sister," Hiccup answers slowly. Stoick jumps in the air and turns to Gretel.

"Good afternoon," smiles Gretel. "You can call me Knowledge Trader Gretel." At that time two young women about Hiccup's age sticks out their heads. The women looks exactly like their mentor, but with hazelnut eyes.

"Mom, we're going to get ready for work," says one of them.

"Great," comments Gretel. "Lucy, after you're done prop the door open before tending to the customers. Margret, when you're done hang up the sign before joining Lucy in tending to the customers."

"You and your boat look familiar, have you been to Berk before?" asks Stoick.

"Only once with my mentor," answers Gretel. "I don't know much. I remember leaving early and not being able to give you the book you wanted."

"What book was it?" asks Astrid.

"It was called Book of World Dragons," answers Gretel, this gets Hiccup really interested. "It's a book Bork made with a close friend. They traveled long ways from the island that is now Berk. But Bork got married to a woman who accepted him studying dragons rather than killing them. After marrying her Bork settled down and only studied the dragons nearby while his friend studied the ones in the different parts of the world. The next time they met was on Bork's deathbed. Before he died he gave the friend the notes he made on the dragons since they split. That friend added those facts to this book they wrote together."

"I remember now," muses Stoick. "I remember picking that book. But something happened that made you and your mentor leave before we made a trade."

"Well it's still in here if you still want it," exclaims Gretel.

"I do," jumps in Hiccup. "I'll trade the story of when I ended the three hundred year war by myself for it."

"Well, go home and get a copy of it and any information you want to trade for anything else," says Gretel, putting her left hand on Hiccup's shoulder. Unknown to everyone but Gretel the stone on her ring turns clear. After the group of people left the docks Gretel turns towards her twins and shows them that the ring is now clear.

At home Hiccup work fast and long writing his experiences downing Toothless, bonding with him, making a new tail fin, then the event leading up to the battle with The Red Death. He only stopped to get the cramp out of his hand. When he is done he slams the book that was empty when he started, now full, and leaned back with a sigh. When Toothless hears this he gets up from where he was napping and pokes Hiccup with his nose. Hiccup responds by petting Toothless on the head.

"Now we'll be able to get that book on dragons of the world," exclaims Hiccup. "With that we'll be able to get stronger." Stoick climbs down the stairs at this point with a sad expression on his face. He's also carrying a lot of books.

"What's wrong dad?" asks Hiccup.

"I found out why Gretel and her mentor left so early without giving us the book. I caused them to be laughed off of Berk," sighs Stoick, this makes Hiccup and Toothless more curious. "It happened the week after you were born. I invited Gretel and her mentor to the party where I presented you to the village before we make the trade. When it was Gretel's mentor's turn to look upon you she said to us that despite you being a hiccup you will end the three hundred year war by yourself. I started the mess by calling out what she said and calling her ridiculous. All through the party everyone made fun of her and laughed. After the party Gretel's mentor gathered Gretel and another girl she had with her up and left without us making the trade for the book."

"Then explain to her what you just told me and apologize," says Hiccup flatly.

"I tent to go do that as soon as you're ready," responds Stoick.

"Well I am ready," says Hiccup getting up.

When they enter the house-boat they asks one of Gretel's twin daughters where she is. They tell them that Gretel is at the front desk. When they got there Tuffnut and Ruffnut whiz by to be in front of the desk.

"One of your girls told us you have something we're going to want," says Tuffnut.

"Yes, that is true," answers Gretel, taking two rolls of paper from under her desk. "Johann gave me your great-grandfather's skull along with the story of you giving it to him and who it is. With it I made copies of what your great-grandfather looked like in life for each of you." The twin gasps in amazement when they open their rolls of paper.

"We'll trade you our great-grandfather's diary for both of these," says Tuffnut slamming a book on the desk.

"Deal," Gretel replies before handing the book to one of her twins and telling her to make a copy of it and give it back to the twins. Tuffnut and Ruffnut follows the twin and Hiccup and Stoick steps forward.

"So I'm sorry for everything," says Stoick once he is done telling Gretel about her and her mentor being laughed off of Berk.

"It's O.K. my mentor never was hurt by what happened. In-fact she expected it," smiles Gretel, this confuses Stoick and Hiccup. "We'll swing by after people leave here. Then everything will be explained." Hiccup and Gretel makes the exchange for the book and they both go around their own ways. Hiccup and Stoick looks around and makes more trades before going back home.

It is after dinner when Gretel and her twins arrives.

"Sorry to be late Chief Stoick," says one of the twins.

"It was close to dinner time when the last customer left," explains the other twin.

"It's alright," responds Stoick. "Now what were you saying about your mentor knowing she would get laughed off of Berk?" At this Gretel grins as she raises something that looks like a clear stick. Streams of glittering light flows out of the strange stick and circles around her. Her clothes changes into a red dress that hangs off of one shoulder. Her hairstyle changes into a bun. A silver circlet appears around her head. After the change the glittery light goes away. Stoick and Hiccup looks at them in awe.

"Before I tell you how my mentor knew all that I must first explain the origin of these abilities," says Gretel. "In the beginning of mankind everyone got along so perfect with each other. Every day would be full of smiles. Eventually Loki got bored of it. So he added darkness to hearts. When the other gods and the goddesses found out what happened it was too late, the darkness had spread everywhere. The darkness would destroy the world. So the gods and goddesses went to help mankind with their abilities, everyone but The Norns. The only abilities they have are to see the past, present and future. But they saw that there are people who're immune to the darkness, people who never loses the light in their heart. So they have the idea of protecting those lights. The how was tricky, but they found magic users with light in their hearts. So they take the fallen sticks from the main Yggdrasil tree, enchant it to give their chosen wielder more power. Then they gave it to the pure hearted magic users with the strongest magic and make them help the pure hearts of the world. They also gave those magic users a way that can detect a person with a pure heart and be able to do a two way communication. Those magic users now helps mankind in The Norns' names. Whenever any of these chosen magic dies The Norns choses their replacement. My mentor was one of these. Before the time she gave you that prophecy she and The Norns spoke and The Norns told my mentor about the end of your three hundred year war. That time I was only training my magic. But a chosen magic user died and I was chosen to take their place."

"Why are you telling us all this?" asks Hiccup.

"Because you are one of those pure hearted people," responds one of the twins.

"At the dock mommy touched your shoulder," explains the other twin. "When she did the red stone on her ring turned clear."

"My ring is my pure heart detector and two way communicator," says Gretel. "And it told me that you are a pure hearted person. So we're going to stay here and help with the war with Alvin."

"That's ridiculous," comments Stoick. "There's not going to be a war between us and Alvin."

"Just like how I'm not going to end the war between us and the dragons," says Hiccup, now turning to his dad. "Dad, we've already saw that Alvin has already came after me more than once. That only proves that he's going to keep coming after me until either he's brought down or won." Toothless hums in agreement.

"You're right about one thing, Alvin had been after you more than once," Stoick sighs in defeat. "O.K. you three may stay here until we're sure there's not going to be a war."

"Thank you Chief," says Gretel. "Now, there's a huge storm coming. But before me and my girls leave to prepare for it I have some words of advice for you Hiccup. You may have been an embarrassment to your dad and the village, but look at yourself now. Also it is good to train harder, but don't lose sight of the key to being a great dragon trainer."

"O.K," Hiccup slowly says. "I got the first thing, but I didn't understand the second one."

"Then here's a hint," says Gretel. "Think of everything that happened from the reason Toothless needs a fake tailfin to the event that took away your left foot." Gretel and the twins leaves after that.

"Well, we'll have plenty of time to think about what she said," says Stoick. "It's almost dark and it's already pouring rain out there. You go off and read that new dragon manual. I'll get to some wood carving." But Hiccup is still thinking about what Gretel said that he couldn't focus on anything else.

Later on while Hiccup is getting ready for bed he's still thinking about what Gretel said. He's now muttering to himself. Stoick is sleeping in his chair downstairs.

"The key to being a great dragon trainer. Everything that happened between Toothless needing a new tail to me losing my foot," he mutters before bringing it back in his head. He even closes his eyes. Suddenly a crack of thunder roars outside. At the same time the thunder roared Hiccup opens his eyes as big as dinner plates.

"T-T-Toothless," Hiccup manages to say through his fear. Toothless senses the fear and is by his side in the blink of an eye. He rears up on hind legs and takes hold of his shaking rider with his front legs. He wraps his wings around them both for more comfort. Hiccup's shaking settles down to slight trembling before he finally relaxes. He takes hold of Toothless' front legs as he sinks down to sit on the floor. With the fear gone he's aware of his surroundings. He hears heavy footsteps reach the top of the stairs.

"Hiccup, are you alright?" asks Stoick.

"Yeah dad," answers Hiccup. "It's going to be one of those nights." Ever since he got struck by lightning proving Toothless innocents for Thor's wrath he had developed brontophobia. It only thunder stormed once since that incident. The same thing happened as now. They set up the same sleeping spot Hiccup slept in that time this night, setting up Hiccup's pillow and blanket on Toothless' stone slab and the dragon and his rider sleeps together. After Stoick leaves to go back to sleep in his chair Hiccup rolls onto his side so that he's facing his dragon.

"Thanks for everything Bud," whispers Hiccup. Toothless responds with humming in different keys.

"I think I know what Gretel means now about the key to being a great dragon trainer and the hint she gave," continues Hiccup. "All through the time between the loss of your tail and my foot we've bonded. We're now so close that all's left is my understanding what you say. That's the key, to bond with a dragon." With that Hiccup's eyes flutters closed and falls asleep.

The next day starts out like all of the others, Toothless waking Hiccup at the crack of dawn to go flying. After they make and eat their early breakfasts they leave for flying.

During their morning flight Toothless' head snaps up and his ears straight in the air twitching. Hiccup suddenly sets the fake tailfin's pedal so they'll hover.

"What is it Bud? You hear something?" asks Hiccup. Toothless answers this by pointing his nose in the direction of the beach (A/N: the one where Hiccup gave himself up to Alvin in the episode Alvin and the Outcasts). Hiccup uses the pedal to help them fly there.

They aren't very far when Hiccup hears a roaring sound from the direction they are headed in. Alittle further on they see what looks like a dragon on the beach that is the one making the noise. It is on the farthest side of the beach then where the wave reaches. Closer and they see that it is a beached Scauldron. It's thrashing around and roaring its head off.

"Wow, a Scauldron," awes Hiccup. "But, why is it acting this way?" Hiccup knits his eyebrows together in thought.

"It lives in water, and even uses it as its weapon," Hiccup mutters. "That means that it depends on it. But Scauldrons are fine on land. So, why is this one unable to get back into the water? Unless it's too tired to make the trip back into the water. We could pin its head down to get its attention. But how would we calm it down? I could splash water over my head to show that I am a friend if it likes water. But how would we get it back into the water?" Toothless snaps him out of his thoughts by slapping him in the face with an ear. He indicates to land. Hiccup helps Toothless land. Once they have come to a stop and Hiccup climbs off Toothless wipes the sand flat and scratched some words into the sand.

"You could speak Dragonese to calm it down," reads Hiccup. "What?" Toothless erases the words with a few wipes and writes some more.

"The why we dragons talk. I can help you," reads Hiccup before his face turns into a beaming smile. "Yes. Teach me how to speak Dragonese."

A moment later Toothless and Hiccup are in the air. But not for long, they dive towards the beached scauldron. They hit its head and pushes it to the ground. Toothless stands on its head. With the combined weight of both dragon and rider and the fact that it's tired it can't do anything but roar.

"Nee-ah wettings-greenblood (no seadragon)!" calls Hiccup. The beached scauldron suddenly stops roaring with a look of surprise. Hiccup jumps down and walks in front of the scauldron. He says the phrase again.

"Me is freundlee (I am friend)," continues Hiccup. He goes down to the water and takes hand fulls of water and pours it over his head. He does this two more times and then walks up to the scauldron. Toothless jumps off of its head. The scauldron sniffs Hiccup and then calms down.

"Peepa (see)," says Hiccup. "Let me help you. I'll go get my friends so they can help too."

A half an hour later Hiccup and Toothless comes back with Astrid on Stormfly and Stoick on Thornado. The riders are carrying a really long rope.

"I only managed to bring one of my friends and my dad," explains Hiccup. "But together our dragon partners will carry you back into the water." Toothless holds one end of the rope, Astrid holds the other end and Thornado holds the middle. Toothless and Stormfly are on one side of the scauldron. Thornado is on the other. Hiccup has the scauldron lay on the middle of their makeshift hammock. Together all three dragons lifts the scauldron and flies it over the part of the beach where the water is deep. The dragons lowers the scauldron into the water and Thornado drops his part of the rope. The dragons flies their riders back to the beach. Once they touch-down the scauldron walks up to them. It nuzzles Stoick and Astrid and licks Hiccup in thanks.

"No need to thank us," smiles Hiccup as he reaches out the palm of his hand. "I'm just glad everything turned out OK."

"Well done Hiccup," congratulates Gretel from behind them. They turn to see Gretel as she looked like the night before. Her twin daughters by her side.

"Well, I'd best be getting to today's chief duties," says Stoick. "I'll leave you for your talking."

"Thanks dad for the help," says Hiccup before Thornado takes off. Hiccup and Astrid gets off their dragons and walks towards Gretel and the twins.

"Hiccup, what's going on?" asks Astrid.

"Gretel is a magic user chosen by The Norns to help people with pure hearts," explains Hiccup. "She's here to help us fight Alvin."

"I'm afraid that it won't be just Alvin you'll be defending your home from," says Gretel. "Last night after preparing for the storm I talked to The Norns. They see a lot of battles besides the ones with Alvin."

"Well then, we just have to face them when they come," sighs Hiccup.

"Indeed," agrees Gretel. "That's why I'm going to give you these. Just show me your right arm Hiccup, Astrid your left." They do what Gretel tells them and Gretel waves her want over their arms. Arm guards appears on their arms. Hiccup's is a dark shade of gold and black. Astrids is yellow-gold and light blue.

"Those arm guards won't just help in battle," explains Gretel. "Just having them on will make you able to see, hear and smell like a dragon. Slapping them will cover you in armor that will match your dragon's scales. Slapping them a second time will turn the armor into the kind of dragon you ride. The abilities you'll gain is just like your dragon's. Slap it a third time and you'll feel what your dragon is feeling and hear each other's thoughts. Close either your eyes, nose or ears and you'll sense what your dragon is seeing, hearing or smelling at the moment. Slap it a fourth time and your armor will disappear. Hiccup, yours is different, when you touch another dragon you'll feel what they feel. We'll talk about what happens during battle at training time."

"Thanks Gretel," says Hiccup.

"Just doing my job," smiles Gretel. She then waves her wand over Toothless' gear and a new setting appears for the pedal.

"Move the pedal to the new setting and Toothless will be able to fly on his own if need be," says Gretel.

"Thanks again," says Hiccup. Gretel waves her wand again and she and the twins disappears.

"Now let's take care of the scauldron," says Hiccup. He, Astrid and their dragons walks to the edge of the beach.

"Please tell us what brought you to Berk?" asks Hiccup. Instead of the usual dragon sounds they here actual words, though they still can't understand them.

"Oops-bungas catchas mi keendlee," explains the scauldron, judging by the voice it's a female. "Me wet-flaps vizza par oos dunning."

"Toothless, a little help understanding her," requests Hiccup. After smoothing out the sand in front of him Toothless writes in it.

"Outcasts catches her kind, she swims this way for one day," reads Hiccup.

"Toothless can write," gasps Astrid in disbelief.

"Well I did read aloud near him a lot. So he would have picked up on a lot of it," explains Hiccup. "But what I don't understand is why the Outcasts are catching dragons and not killing them." Then he turns to the scauldron.

"You are welcome to live in our waters," invites Hiccup. "All I ask in return is that you don't harm anyone." The scauldron nods her head and swims out of sight.

"Good, now we have to tell everyone about all this," sighs Hiccup as he and Astrid flies back to the village.

"Bad things happen that changes us. But as long as we keep a clear head and don't lose sight of what's important and good in yourself and life that change won't be too bad." – Hiccup.

A/N:

The whole thing with Gretel being chosen by The Norns to help people with pure hearts is from Dark Parables: The Final Cinderella.


	2. Chapter 2

Before I begin the new chapter I made some changes (even in chapter 1). I made it so that the twins traveling with Gretel are her daughters. Now that Defenders of Berk has begun I might put some of those elements into my story for some fun.

"It's good to prepare yourself for facing bad scenarios. But no matter what you do some things you can't be prepared for." – Hiccup.

The sun is just peaking over the horizon when an Outcast boat draws near to the beaches of Berk.

"Stop here!" commands their leader, Alvin. "Put up the ship disguise up. It's time to put the next part of the plan into effect. We just need to dispose of Stoick's boy. Then we'll begin the war on Berk!" The other Outcasts on cheers as they set up some kind of cloth to the mast.

The day Hiccup trained the Scauldron the village has an emergency meeting so that he could notify the village of their new resident dragon species. During the meeting Hiccup scheduled a group training day for the next day. After the meeting Hiccup and Astrid decided that Toothless will teach Hiccup Dragonese, since he's the only dragon that knows how to write, and at the end of the day Hiccup will teach Astrid what he learned. She will spend her solo dragon training time practicing what Hiccup taught her. After the meeting Hiccup does his daily chores. Then works in his workshop building a box that's in pieces. The box is in pieces so that he can bring it into the house, which he does after making it. He assembles it in his room. He flies Toothless back and forth between the beach and his room filling the box with sand. Afterwards they just have fun until dinner. After dinner Hiccup and Toothless spends the rest of the evening making a dictionary for Dragonese, Toothless writing the words down in the sandbox and Hiccup copying each one in a notebook. By the time Hiccup is tired he has a good dictionary. So they call it quits and went to bed.

The next day at the arena everyone is gathering for the training session. Hiccup, Gretel and her daughters, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut are there with their dragon partners. Hiccup turns to the sound of a Deadly Nadder arriving, along with a Monstrous Nightmare close by.

"Hey there Hiccup," says Astrid. "How many words did you learn yesterday."

"Good one Astrid, good insult," comments Snotlout, earning a good punch in the arm by Astrid.

"That wasn't an insult," corrects Astrid. "Hiccup and I are studying Dragonese. The way dragons talk to one another."

"I get how you're going to talk to them, but what about you hearing what they are saying?" asks Fishlegs.

"With these," replies Hiccup as he and Astrid shows them their magic armguards, making the others exclaim their awe. "With these we have the senses of a dragon, that's in regular mode and armor mode. Then in dragon mode our armor will take on the form of the same kind of dragon we ride. And we will have the same abilities as them. Next is the Becoming One mode where we will be able to share senses with our dragons. I made a dictionary of the dragon language last night. After battle training today I'll start teaching Dragonese lessons. I called a group training session so that you guys can see what these can do so that after the session and Gretel give you one of your own you'll know how to use them."

"So, why's Gretel here now?" asks Ruffnut.

"She's going to instruct us in how our armor mode works in battle," explains Hiccup.

"OK, now that you've explained everything to them, let's begin," says Gretel. "Hiccup, Astrid, please take your positions in the center of the arena and activate your armors. Everyone else to the side." Everyone moves to their positions. Astrid and Hiccup slaps their armguards. They are instantly covered in armor (A/N: think of the armor Hiccup wore in the HTTYD2 teaser trailer and you'll get parts of the design). Hiccup's is black that matches Toothless' scale color, Astrid's is light blue like the light blue of Stormfly's scales. They each have a weapon in hand and their armguards turns into Viking shields. Hiccup has a sword that appears in his left hand and Astrid has a battle axe in her right.

"Wow," exclaims Hiccup. "This sword and shield is really light."

"Of course they are," replies Gretel. "The magic armguards are one with its wearer. That means it will take the form that's yours. The armors are made of past dragon scales and skin so it's fireproof and weapons can't penetrate them. Now, try a little bit of sparing together." Astrid starts it off by charging with her axe ready for a swing. Hiccup is able to swing his sword so fast that no eyes are able to follow it. Hiccup quickly steps forward and swings his sword for a strike. Astrid deflects it with her shield. They keep going like this for a good amount of time before they stop to rest.

"Wow," exclaims Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Snotlout just stands there with his mouth open. Fishlegs' eyes are bulging.

"Wow, that is so incredible," comments Fishlegs. "It's as if Hiccup's abilities increased tenfold."

"That is what happens when a person unlocks their true potential," explains Gretel. "When a person wields the right equipment the right way they can, and will, be able to unleash their full potential. Thus their abilities will increase by an unbelievable amount."

"I'd like a magic armguard," exclaims Fishlegs. "With maybe the same abilities as they have."

"You all can have one of your own," says Gretel. With three flicks of her wand a magic armguard appears on Fishlegs and Ruff and Tuff's arm. As she's about to give Snotlout one he holds up his hand to tell her to stop.

"I want an armguard with only the battle abilities they have," requests Snotlout. "Me and Hookfang don't need to understand each other." With a flick of Gretel's wand a magic armguard appears on Snotlout's arm.

"I'd like mine changed," exclaims Hiccup. "I just want a normal magic armguard." With a flick of Gretel's wand that is done too.

"Now partner up and let's see what you'll get from your magic armguards!" calls out Hiccup. Ruff and Tuff partners up together, Fishlegs with Hiccup and Astrid with Snotlout. Ruff and Tuff's weapons are battle hammers, Fishlegs' is a mace and Snotlout's is a sword.

After an hour of sparring Snotlout and Ruff and Tuff leaves to do their own training. Hiccup offered to teach them Dragonese but they refused. Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs studies the dictionary Hiccup and Toothless made. Gretel and her twins starts to leave back to their boathouse

"Oh, Hiccup, before we leave I need to tell you something," says Gretel. "When you go off to do solo-training you should leave Toothless' tailfin on self-steering. The Norns warned me that Alvin will make launch an attack on just you when you're alone. With Toothless' tailfin on self-steering he'll be able to get help."

"OK, thanks for the heads-up," says Hiccup.

"Wait a minute," exclaims Astrid. "That only means that he shouldn't be left alone."

"The Outcasts are very well hidden and won't come out until they attack Hiccup alone," explains Gretel.

"Then I'll just have to face them alone," exclaims Hiccup. "After all, that's what all this training is for."

After Gretel and her daughters leaves the three who stayed at the academy studies the words in the As and Bs. After that they separate for solo-training. While Hiccup and Toothless flies around Hiccup reads the rest of the dictionary. They land at the same beach that Hiccup befriended the Scauldron on. When Hiccup got off Toothless stops him and scratches out a reminder of what Gretel said before she left in the sand. Hiccup turns and does that. Then he puts the dictionary in the saddlebag. He walks in front of Toothless and turns to face him.

"OK Buddy, let's see if I got this down right," says Hiccup.

"Me calda Hiccup (my name is Hiccup)," says Hiccup slowly. "Me is freundlees wit greenbloods (I am friends with dragons)." Toothless scratches the translation into the sand.

"Yes!" cheers Hiccup. "I'm speaking Dragonese."

"Good for you," exclaims a familiar voice that sends a shiver up Hiccup's spine. He spins around to face Alvin the Treacherous.

"Alvin," glares Hiccup. "What do you want now?"

"Same thing as always, you," sneers Alvin. "Now!" suddenly a whistling sound comes from behind Hiccup and Toothless. A bola hits Hiccup and tangles him in the rope. A weight hits him in the head.

"Toothless, go get help!" Hiccup manages to command before passing out. Toothless flies to the top of the cliff and out of sight, but not gone. He watches from over the edge.

"Hurry up and take him with us to the boat!" Alvin orders his men. One of the Outcasts picks Hiccup up and carries him under his arm. Some of the other Outcasts drags out a row boat from a hiding spot. That's what the Outcasts takes Hiccup in out over the ocean in. They row until they come in front of one of those rock pillars sticking out of the sea. They lift a part of the bottom of the rock and disappears underneath it. With dragon vision Toothless saw a bit of a boat through the opening. Now he knows which rock is fake and flies off to get help in rescuing his rider.

Hiccup wakes up in the hold of the Outcasts' boat (A/N: think of what Trader Johann's boat looks like below deck in the episode Breakneck Bog). He looks around and finds his wrists are tied together in front with rope. His legs are chained in a way that their loose enough to walk. But not enough to allow him to run. He's not alone either, an Outcast is there on the stairs. When Hiccup is awake the Outcast pokes his head out the trapdoor leading to the deck.

"Hey! He's awake!" calls the Outcast.

"Well bring him up then!" orders Alvin's voice from above. Hiccup is dragged by the arm up to the deck and in front of Alvin.

"What do you want?" asks Hiccup. "I keep telling you I'm not going to be training your dragons."

"I'm just giving you one last chance to reconsider," replies Alvin. "Come train our dragons or (he moves to the side revealing an alter behind him) become a sacrifice."

"I'll never train your dragons," glares Hiccup.

"Then you'll have no other use then to be a sacrifice to Loki in exchange for a blessing in the war on your village," shrugs Alvin.

"Tie him to the alter!" Alvin orders his men. Another Outcast grabs Hiccup's other arm and both of them forces him to lay on his back on the alter. They tie his arm and legs to the alter with rope, his hand are too far apart to slap the magic armguard. Hiccup doesn't struggle, but in his mind he's praying with all his heart to all the gods and goddesses, but Loki, that Toothless will come with help in time. Alvin raises a dagger up and ready to plunge it into Hiccup's heart.

"Hear me Lord Loki, god of evil!" calls Alvin. "I offer up this human sacrifice in exchange for victory in our war over Berk! Do with this human soul as you desire!" After that, two things happens. Alvin plunges the dagger down at the same time the Scauldron Hiccup trained bursts out of the water and on to one side of the deck, making the whole boat tip its way. Thus everybody, except Hiccup who is tied to the alter that's nailed to the deck, tumbles its direction and Alvin's aim is off course. But the dagger still plunges into Hiccup's chest. Once the Outcasts had sled overboard the scauldron goes back into the water to keep the Outcasts occupied. Toothless makes his appearance by landing on the deck. Having saw Alvin stab Hiccup from wherever he was hiding. Toothless doesn't waste a single second shooting a plasma blast that's only powerful enough to destroy the alter Hiccup is tied to. Hiccup staggers to stand up with Toothless' help. The dagger in his chest hurts like there's no tomorrow. But he knows that if he just pulls it out he will bleed to death. Hiccup leans on his knees while Toothless turns so that the saddle is close to his rider. He even lays on his stomach so that Hiccup can climb on easier. Once he's on Toothless' back he takes a strap from a pocket in his belt and hooks it to a hidden loop in his belt and the saddle.

"To Gretel's boat-house Buddy," gasps Hiccup. Toothless takes off towards safety faster than it usually flies. As they fly off Toothless roars to the Scauldron to meet them at Gretel's boat-house and that it can stop keeping the Outcasts occupied. The Scauldron dives into the water and heads to the meeting spot.

A moment later Toothless lands on the dock in front of the door to Gretel's ship. Hiccup is laying on Toothless' back in a way that won't disturb the dagger in his chest. Toothless uses a very low powered plasma blast to knock on the door. The door opens and Gretel's twins immediately leads Toothless deep into the ship. They enter a room that's empty except for a metal bed on wheels. There's only a window that looks into a white room with many strange tools set up and a table the right size for a human to lie on. Gretel is there with her back turned away. One of the twins knocks on the door while the other one with Toothless' help gets Hiccup on the bed with wheels. Gretel pokes her head out the door.

"Mom, Hiccup is here," notifies the twin that knocked on the door. "Just as The Norns foretold, he's badly wounded."

"OK," responds Gretel. "It's Lucy's turn to help me and Margret's turn to notify the caretaker." Each of the twins hurries to do what their mom says. The one that is to notify Stoick takes out her own wand to teleport herself. Her wand looks like just a stick.

After the operation Gretel puts Hiccup in the bed of a guest room. Toothless had immediately ran into the room and is now resting on the floor with his head next to Hiccup. Gretel is outside with Stoick.

"Gretel, I can't thank you enough for saving my son," says Stoick.

"Well don't," replies Gretel. "Part of my job of heaven's hand is to help the ones with a pure heart. And that includes keeping them alive."

"Hiccup was lucky," continues Gretel. "The dagger missed his heart and was lodged in between his heart and lung. Thanks to a saliva donation from Toothless the wound should heal in a matter of hours. By tomorrow he will be up and living as if this never happened."

"That's excellent," comments Stoick as he walks towards the room.

"One more thing before I leave you to Hiccup," says Gretel. "I know you're planning on putting a ban on all dragon flying but your own. But in order to defeat your enemies you'll need a team of dragon riders."

"I'm not going to endanger any of the others," responds Stoick.

"Bad things happen to us all," retorts Gretel as Stoick walks to the bed Hiccup is in. "Even for heaven's hands."

"Bad things happen that you are not prepared for. But I know that if me and my friends work hard we could at least try to overcome obstacles." – Hiccup.

With the Outcasts

The Outcasts managed to swim back to their boat and are trying to figure out how to get back onto it. Out of nowhere a rope ladder drops into the water from the boat. Once they've climbed onboard they see a woman about the same age as Gretel standing on the deck.

"Hey! Who are you and where did you come from!?" yells Alvin.

"My name is Darcy," introduces the woman. "I am a Loki's hand. One who does evil in Loki's place. I've just arrived on Berk when you did and had been invisible as I've followed you since you stepped onto Berk's shores. I saw everything and decided to help you in your evil ways."

"Thanks, but we don't need help killing people," exclaims one of the Outcast men. "So I'll be helping you off the boat." The same Outcast that spoke charges. Darcy whips out a wand that looks like a black transparent stick. With one flick of it the charging Outcast turns to stone. At the first crack of the deck boards breaking under the weight of the stoned Outcasts Darcy flicks her wand. This time she sends the stoned Outcast flying overboard.

"Impressive," comments Alvin with a wicked grin. "We don't have a magic user, so you've got the job."

"Excellent," comments Darcy. "What is your next decision Chief Alvin?"

"We are still going after Berk," responds Alvin. "But as for Stoick's boy I think I'll spare him for a bit longer."

"Ah, why chief? Weren't you going to kill him a few moments ago?" asks another Outcast.

"I've been thinking about that," replies Alvin. "While we were about to grab him I noticed he was speaking in a different tongue. And the Nightfury was writing in the sand. Stoick's boy called it something along the lines of dragon speech. Maybe there's something more we can learn from that boy after all."

"So let's sail for Outcast Island and make a new plan of attack," exclaims Darcy with a sneer.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: this takes place after The Iron Gronckle. I don't know what dreamworks will do for Hiccup training a Scauldron, but you can call the one I did out of luck (he gets a lot of those).

In Gretel's ship Gretel had just came back and are now talking to Lucy and Margret.

"Well mom, how's the Whispering Death eggs under Berk?" asks one of the twins.

"They've hatched," answers Gretel. "I just hope that Hiccup and the others will be ready for what will come in the future." A moment later they hear the sound of a gliding dragon come in for a landing. A moment after that they hear a knock on the door. Gretel teleports to the door that connects the shop to the outside. She answers the door to see Hiccup and Toothless there. Hiccup is carrying a big bag.

"Hello Hiccup," greets Gretel as she steps to the side. "Come in and into the living part of the my home."

"Thank you," says Hiccup as he follows Gretel through the shop floor and up the stairs to the part of the ship that Gretel and her twins lives in. "I had an amusing day yesterday."

"Well tell away," says Gretel. She makes a small voice recording device appear in her hand. As they walk to the living part of the ship Hiccup tells her about what happened (A/N: the events in The Iron Gronckle minus the part where the Outcasts were checking up on the eggs they put under Berk).

"That is one funny adventure," comments Gretel. They now enter the part of the ship Gretel and her twins lives in.

"So what's new with you today?" asks Gretel.

"I've improved my Dragonese," replies Hiccup. "I now have an accent that when people hear me without the magic armguards, all they hear are hisses and pops."

"That is an improvement," comments Gretel.

"Hi Hiccup," greets one of the twins.

"Hello ladies," responds Hiccup. "I'm ready for a sleep-over."

"We are too," replies the other twin. "We've picked out games that you use your mind in order to play."

"Mom even put a stone slab in the room you're going to sleep in for Toothless," adds the other one.

"That's great," comments Hiccup. That's how they spend the night after dinner. Hiccup and the twins playing games from all around the world. Gretel sits nearby knitting squares for what she calls a story quilt.

"Gretel, can I ask if you can add a new ability to my magic armguard?" says Hiccup as the three of them play.

"What ability are you thinking?" asks Gretel.

"You remember you gave me the ability to sense what Toothless senses?" asks Hiccup. "Well, I was thinking of it also being vice-versa. Making us more being one."

"That's a good thought," exclaims Gretel. With a flick of her wand the said ability is added to Hiccup's magic armguard.

That night when it is time to get ready for bed the twins shows Hiccup where he's sleeping. When he opens the door to his room he is greeted with an amazing sight. Besides the bed bedside table and stone slab there's a roll-top desk, shelves and a chest. On one side of the room there's bookshelves lined with story books. On top of the book shelves are dolls that look like people. Some are made from cloth and some are made from porcelain. On the opposite side of the room that the bookshelves are on is one shelf with cloth busts with hats from all around the world on. On the side of the room where the door is the roll-top desk with the chest beside it. When Hiccup opens the chest he sees toys from around the world in it.

"This is the room where the pure hearted people sleep when they would spend the night here," explains one of the twins.

"The things you see here are things left behind by the pure hearted people before you," continues the other twin. On the shelf with the hats Hiccup notices an old beat-up Viking helmet with a lot of dents. Upon a closer look he notices a name carved into it, Bork the very, very, very unfortunate.

"Oh yeah, that one was an old helmet from Bork," exclaims a twin.

"It was one he had during his years of the worst luck," explains the other twin.

"Sleep tight," says both twins.

"Good night Lucy, Margret," replies Hiccup.

The next morning the group is gathering at the academy. Once they are all there they start mounting up. That's when Gretel's twins appears in the academy.

"Why hello double beauties," greets Snotlout. "Here to see me off as I become even more awesome?"

"Can it Snot-going-to-merry-anyone," responds one of the twins.

"We want to put in a request for Hiccup," says the other twin.

"What is it?" asks Hiccup.

"We want you to help us train a Gronckle when you get back," says the twin who spoke first.

"Of course," answers Hiccup. "We'll come by the boat-home when we get back from patrol." The group takes off. They start outside the village and work outwards to the edge of the Berk waters.

"Ah, Hiccup," says Tuffnut. "What do you do at Gretel's boat-home? I mean, you go there a lot. So you must be doing something fun."

"Actually, yeah, we do have some fun," replies Hiccup. "We play game and eat food from around the world, talk and tell stories."

"So you like it there," exclaims Astrid.

"Yeah, I do," says Hiccup. "I like to think of it as a second home."

The flight took an hour and a half. Once they are back in the village they notify Stoick that all's clear. Then Hiccup breaks from the group and heads off to Gretel's ship. The twins rides on Toothless with Hiccup and flies off.

"We are heading to the gronckel habitat where all of the gronckels on Berk are kept," explains Hiccup. "When we get there I will walk you through training one gronckel for each of you. From there I will hand your teachings off to Fishlegs, who's our resident gronckel trainer. He will teach you about gronckel care. We do group training once a day. There you will learn how to fight with your dragon partner."

"Oh, we are not going to use them for fighting," exclaims one of the twins.

"Heaven's hands are not allowed to fight," explains the other twin. "They are meant to help the people with pure hearts."

"Then what are you going to do with them?" asks Hiccup.

"Use them to make stuff out of their lava," answers the second twin to speak.

"You see, we heard about what happened with Meatlug," explains the other twin. "We thought that maybe our addition to our occupation is to create stuff from the world's dragon's abilities. And to explore the uses for their abilities. So we thought that whatever kind of dragon you manage to train some will be set aside for our research."

"We got the idea from the research the heaven's hand that came after the one that helped Bork," explains the other twin. "That one did research on uses for dragon bodies. That one was the first to find out the healing properties of Nightfury saliva."

"In fact, it was that research that saved you when Alvin tried to sacrifice you," adds the other twin. "Toothless' saliva may have healed your wound quickly, but you still lost a lot of blood. Dragon blood can be used like human blood in the case of a blood transfer."

"Ironically it was Toothless that was the perfect match to donate blood to you," finishes the other twin.

"Wow, that is amazing," exclaims Hiccup. "Well, I will help you in your research in any way I can."

"I guess this means we're closer than we thought," Hiccup says to Toothless. "Thanks Buddy for everything." Toothless responds with a coo.

A few minutes later they reach a cave on the other side of Berk. Inside they see a good sized group of gronckels.

"Now go up to one of these gronckels and let them sniff this dragon nip," explains Hiccup as he hands each of the twins a handful of what they call dragon nip. "Then feed it a few rocks. Then put your hand half way towards its face. If it excepts you then it will put its nose on the palm of your hand." The twins does what he instructs. When it came to the first touch the gronkels they picked touches their hand slowly.

"Now you can ride your new gronkels back to the boat-home," exclaims Hiccup. The three of them flies away. Hiccup continues flying around Berk. Then Ruffnut and Tuffnut flies up to him on Barf and Belch.

"Hey Hiccup," says Ruffnut. "We've found something beautiful."

"We were flying over the forest when we saw it," adds Tuffnut. "A whole area of trees were being cut down by a dragon lying on its back. The dragon was cutting the trees with its wings."

"A dragon that can cut down trees with its wings," mutters Hiccup.

"We have to split up and tell the others to head to the spot you two saw the dragon," say Hiccup to Ruff and Tuff.

Almost half an hour later the gang is hovering over a clearing with fallen trees and a huge dragon with long wings laying on its back in it.

"Whoa, a Timberjack," exclaims Fishlegs.

"So Fishlegs, know anything else about this dragon?" asks Hiccup.

"Sharp class," rants Fishlegs. "Edges of wings are super sharp. Attacks out of the sky."

"OK then," says Hiccup as he activates the armor mode of his magic armguards.

"Wait you're not thinking of doing what I think you are going to do?" says Astred. Then Hiccup and Toothless flies to the ground away from the circle.

Once Hiccup and Toothless lands Hiccup sets Toothless' tail so that Toothless can fly without him. He then tells Toothless to fly to where the other dragons are while he continues on. When Toothless flies away Hiccup walks to where the Timberjack is.

Fifteen minutes later Hiccup had worked his way to the Timberjacks head. Hiccup had to do a lot of dodging and taking wing swipes. Whenever a wing collided with Hiccup's body he was thrown quite a ways and the dragons above roars and the humans calls out in worry. Everytime that happens Hiccup orders them to stay away. The armor protected Hiccup's body nicely. Once he gets to the timberjack's head he speaks to it in Dragonese. The other teens are amazed, all they here from Hiccup's mouth are hisses and clicks. The timberjack replies with growls, followed with more hisses and clicks from Hiccup. The timberjack stops thrashing around and Hiccup signals the other teens to come down.

"This timberjack has an itch on its back and it can't reach it with its long wings," explains Hiccup. "So we are going to scratch it for him."

"That sounds like work," exclaims Tuffnut.

"True, but think of what would happen if we let this timberjack continue thrashing around," replies Hiccup. "It is a hazard to living things in this area." So they make back scratchers from the branches of the fallen trees, their dragons helped them onto the timberjack's back and they scratch the timberjack's entire back.

An hour later they are done and the timberjack is sitting facing the group of teens with their dragons behind them. The timberjack rubs its snout on all the teens except Hiccup as a thank you, it licks Hiccup's body to thank him (A/N: think of how the deadly nadder licked Mildew in We are Family Part 2).

"No need to thank us, it is our responsibility to take care of dragon related problems," says Hiccup. "But you're not off the hook yet. You have to help us clear this area and bring the fallen trees to the village." The timberjack nods his head in agreement and the group begins carrying the fallen trees to Berk.

It took until the sun starts setting for the group of teens and the timberjack to be done bringing the fallen trees to Berk.

"OK, you're free to go," Hiccup says to the timberjack. The timberjack says his goodbye and flies away. Hiccup turns to his friends.

"I'm going to talk to Gretel about what she can do about the forest," says Hiccup. "See you tomorrow." Toothless flies him away towards the docks.

Gretel is the one who greets Hiccup and Toothless.

"Don't tell me anything, The Norns already told me about you dealing with the timberjack," exclaims Gretel.

"Good, then I can get to the point of this visit," comments Hiccup. "Can you do anything to repair the part of the forest where the timberjack was?"

"I can have it done at the end of tomorrow," replies Gretel.

"Great, thanks," says Hiccup. He turns to leave, but stops when Gretel puts her hand on his shoulder.

"One last thing before you leave, a prophecy," says Gretel. "Tomorrow night will be the time that you show that you're a dragon trainer to the ones that go berserk."

"Thank you Gretel, I'll keep it in mind," responds Hiccup. Then he leaves.


End file.
